A Brown Bear in the Snowstorm
by abjcm4
Summary: What happens when Elizabeth is trapped in the school building during a huge snowstorm? Read to find out...
1. Chapter 1: When the Snow Falls

It was a cold winter's morning in Coal Valley. Elizabeth slipped out of bed and wrapped a blanket around her. As she looked out the window, she couldn't help but notice the new blanket of snow that covered the fields that surrounded her small row house. She slipped on her shoes and quietly walked downstairs to start the kettle for tea.

After breakfast, she put on her favorite white coat and began her walk to school. She thought of Jack, who was making an early trip out to the settlement. There had been talks that another storm was making its way through Hope Valley, and many feared it would bring about a much harsher winter than they were use to. The town even called a meeting to discuss possible places of shelter for the settlers and those who lived in the outskirts. It was decided that the saloon would become safe havens for these travelers and that school would be let out early this week. Some of the family's in the row houses even offered to take people in, an effort to keep everyone as close to town as possible. Elizabeth agreed considering that it would avoid the children having to walk long distances in the snow.

The one downside to teaching was being the first one there at the schoolhouse without a lit stove. Fortunately, Frank and Jack always made sure that there was plenty of wood within reach for Elizabeth to get. Once Elizabeth lit the stove, she wrote out her lesson on the chalkboard and walked down the center aisle to greet her students. Most of her children came in with chattering teeth, mittens, hats, and snowy winter coats.

"Oh my, I didn't know I would have snowmen for students today. Are you alright?" Elizabeth quickly ran over and started to brush the snow off their coats.

"Just a bit cold Ms. Thatcher. It started to snow on the way over." Luke said.

"Well hopefully, it will stop snowing by the time we are done with our lessons today." As Elizabeth looked out the window she could not help but notice that the snow was coming down harder than usual. _Just keep smiling or they'll notice._ "Alright students, let's begin today's lesson."

Later in the afternoon, Elizabeth and the children had just finished playing their spelling games time had passed by so quickly that Elizabeth hadn't even looked outside. As the wind howled, a tree branch flew through the window. It certainly sacred many of the younger girls when the glass fell down towards them. Elizabeth rushed over and pushed the branch out the window and shut the shutter. Many of the older boys, ran to the other windows and did the same. After catching her breath, Elizabeth looked around the room and into the eyes of her sacred children.

"Everything will be all right, I am sure your parents will arrive shortly to pick you up but until then we will stay right here where it is warm. Boy's do mind putting more wood in the stove." Elizabeth then turned to the rest of the children, "Since it looks like we will be here a while, let's go ahead and move the desks and play a few games. Does that sound fun?"

"It will be like a campout Ms. Thatcher! Can we build a tent?" as Opal said looking up at her with her beautiful blue eyes. "Unfortunately not, since we do not have a tent….But I am sure we will think of something." Elizabeth then started to move about the room, pushing some of the desks aside so that they could play a few games. She couldn't help but think however that they would be there for a long time….


	2. Chapter 2: Through the Snow

Jack had just started to make his way back town when it had started to snow. He knew that the settlers would not have survived the storm without being in town. Fortunately, he, Frank, and some of the other men were able to evacuate them and bring back most of their belongings in time before the snowstorm had hit. As he approached the town with the last of the settlers, he urged everyone to rush inside. The men were then able to unload the rest of the two wagons and get everyone inside.

After putting his horse in the delivery, he decided to head to Abigail's Cafe for nice cup of coffee. He had hoped Elizabeth would be there so that they can share their stories of the day and have dinner. Pushing open the door to Abigail's Cafe, Jack saw Abigail cleaning up plates. "Oh Jack, thank goodness you're here. The mothers are in my living room, many of them are concerned since the children didn't come home from school."

"Why not?" Jack said with concern.

"I don't know, I am thinking they are all still at the school house. I don't think Elizabeth would have let them leave in this kind of storm." Abigail then turned and gazed at the mother's crowding her living room. Most of them were drinking tea and coffee, glaring out the window with great concern.

"Don't worry, I will go out to the school house and see." As he walked back towards the door, he turned to Abigail and said, "Oh and can you put gather some food? They might be a little hungry when I get there."

"No worries, Jack it will be ready in a few minutes."

Jack then rushed over to the jail and gathered what he needed. He knew the storm was bad and that his horse would not be able to ride out without injury. He put on his thickest clothes and winter boots. After Abigail gathered a sack of food for Jack to take with him, putting on his thick red coat Jack started out. _Red is easier to see in the snow._ He had everything he needed including matches, lantern, a pack of food, and his satchel. Setting out to the schoolhouse, he walked as quickly as he could but the storm had started to weigh in. He noticed that the small pond was frozen and though he was only five minutes from the town he could not see it. The wind swirled and the snow started to thicken. As he walked, the snow started to gain height quickly and soon it was up to his knees. There were a few times where he was almost hit by loose branches and thicker pieces of ice. Although it felt like eternity, Jack had finally reached the schoolhouse only to find all of the windows and doors shut. He tried to knock but obviously no one could here. _They probably think I am just a part of this storm._ He quickly looked around, searching for a way in. Suddenly, he remembered that he had built a trap door in the cloak room of the school house. He recalled putting it there as an escape route for anyone who needed it, after all he loved a good damsel and distress story.

Going around to the north corner of the school house, he started to dig. Though his gloves were thick, he could still feel the cold air around him. Once he dug deep enough, he was able to pry two of the boards off and crawl under the school house. Fortunately the snow had not made it's way underneath the building but the ground was muddy. Crawling through the mud, Jack made his way towards the trapdoor. He tried to push it open but there was something heavy sitting on top of it.


	3. Chapter 3: The Monster

Elizabeth spent the next few hours playing with the children as they listened to the sounds of the wind and felt the cold air beginning to engulf the classroom. They were almost out of wood and Elizabeth knew she would have to go outside soon, plus she could hear tummy's start to grumble. With that she began to worry.

"Ms. Thatcher, when will our parents be here?" Emily said.

"Hopefully soon, Emily then we will all go home and have a nice hot cup of hot chocolate."

"But Ms. Thatcher, Ms. Abigail was making pot roast tonight."

"I'm sorry, Cody. I just want to make sure we all get home safely and I don't think we can in this storm." Elizabeth then looked around the room. "I know you are all getting hungry. Do you perhaps have any leftovers from lunch that you could snack on? I also had a pie that I was going to take over to Abigail's later that I am going to cut into pieces for all of you." The children all turned and looked at each other in excitement. Just then, Roger said, "I have an idea, maybe we can do a talent show and while we eat pie."

"Sound like we have a show to get ready for. Okay let's do this, we don't all of you take the next fifteen minutes and figure out what you are going to do. I will get the pies ready for all of you. Then we will sit around and each of you will perform your piece of the talent show. Does that sound good?"

"I can't wait Ms. Thatcher!"

The children pushed the tables and chairs back into their original spots while Elizabeth split the pie she made into even pieces. The children were super excited to share all of their amazing talents. A few of the children who didn't know what to do, came up to Elizabeth asking her what they should do. "You can sing a song or even tell us a funny story."

Once the student's were settled, the students began their talent show. Emily, Sarah, and Claire sang a song and performed a dance. The boys all did some variation of stories and magic tricks. Most of the children seemed to be having fun, and they had forgotten about the storm outside. And though, Elizabeth did not always make the best pies the children did not leave one crumb on the ground. Soon enough the time came for Opal to come up, she had whispered to Elizabeth that she was going to talk about her bear. Just as Opal opened her mouth to talk, they heard banging coming from the cloakroom of the closet. Elizabeth and a few of the older boys quickly walked across the room. Gabe pointed and said,"It sounds like it is coming from down there."

"Well let's move these boxes then and take a look." Elizabeth then started pushing boxes over and noticed a trap door. "I didn't know that this was here. Wonder what it goes to…" Elizabeth then helped Gabe lift the door open and what appeared to a monster came tumbling out. Opal screamed and clung to her bear.


	4. Chapter 4: A Sea of Ice and Snow

There he stood, muddy, cold, and hungry. Elizabeth cried out, "Jack! Oh my goodness, are you okay? Quick, let's get over to the stove!"

As many of the younger children looked over in horror, Elizabeth grabbed Jack's arm and walked him over to the stove. His teeth started chattering, as he sat down in front of the stove.

"Steven, grab me that blanket over there! Emily, can you go find something else to cover him up with. … What were you thinking Jack? You could have been killed!" Elizabeth said with a look of concern and worry.

"The mothers were worried that they might have tried to walk home. I decided to come here and see if all of you were all right. My biggest worry was that you were all out there stuck in the storm. Speaking of which, I hope pass over soon."

"I am just glad you are all right." Elizabeth said as she kissed Jack's cheek. She turned and looked at all of her students, "Looks like we might be spending the night here. Hopefully, the storm will be over soon and we can leave first thing in the morning. Let's go ahead and try to make beds for ourselves, I know that there are no pillows or very many blankets but we will just have to make do with what we have."

The children then began to move about the room and choose spots to lay down for the night. After Jack was able to warm himself up and get most of the mud off of his coat, Elizabeth and Jack handed out the little food Jack was able to bring with him, that kept the children from going hungry a little while longer. Both of them knew there was no food left and that they would have to leave the school house in the morning to get back to town. Fortunately, they had brought enough wood inside that there was enough to keep the stove on through the night. As Jack held onto Elizabeth, they both watched all the children sleeping as they listened to the rushing winds outside.

When Elizabeth woke, she noticed that there was not a single sound of wind outside. She turned and tapped Jack on the shoulder, "Listen."

"What? I don't hear anything." Jack said rubbing his eyes.

"Exactly, let's go open a window."

As Jack and Elizabeth opened the window they notices that the entire field of what was grass and tall weeds was covered in a blanket of snow. In fact, it had snowed so much that it reached the window. Looking over at Elizabeth, Jack walked over to the door and found that the snow level reached up to at least four feet of snow. "Well, I guess we are not going to have an easy walk home. We will have to leave soon though, not sure if it is going to start snowing again."

"Well I'll get the children up then. At least the walk itself is not that far, I am just not sure if the younger ones will be able to handle it." Elizabeth said worryingly.

"They'll be fine, trust me. I am sure we'll make it through. … We have to." Jack said looking at Elizabeth. He pulled her close and held her as

they both looked outside the window at the sea of ice and snow that laid upon them.


	5. Chapter 5: The Strength of Ice

**Chapter 5**

As the children put on their coats and re-tied their shoes, Jack tied the rope around his waist so that it would be long enough for the students to hold on to while they walk through the snow. Elizabeth had placed the youngest children near Jack, while the older boys were at the end of the rope, she herself would try to stay in the middle. Once they were ready to go Elizabeth shut the doors and the windows behind them, and looked out ahead at her students and Jack who had come to their rescue. _God be with us all_ , she thought.

Jack turned and said, "Okay, are we ready?...This will be a little challenging because the snow is deep. Remember who your buddy is and make sure they stay next to you. I don't want to lose anyone. Luckily it isn't snowing yet, but we must hurry before it does." Jack looked around and counted twenty students plus Elizabeth, determined not lose a single one of them.

As they began to march through the snow, it became apparent that the younger children were not able to move as easily considering that the snow came up just above their waist while in comparison to the knee height for the older students. Elizabeth and Jack, and a couple of the older boys had to lift and carry some of the little ones from time to time. The children complained from time to time, but they managed to push through.

Soon enough, they made it about halfway to town when they heard a scream from the back of the line, "Help!... She fell through the ice!" Everyone quickly turned to look and see Mary standing over a small hole, Jack ran over and quickly took off his coat and boots. Before jumping in, Jack looked at Elizabeth, "When I tug on the rope pull me up!" Elizabeth nodded. Someone said, "Stand back, stand back!" Many of the students had started to gather around the small hole of cold water.

Elizabeth began to panic, "Quick grab on to the rope! Wait until I say pull!" Elizabeth and several of the students grabbed on to the rope, after what felt like hours Elizabeth and her students felt a tug. "Pull!", Elizabeth shouted. As they pulled the rope, Anne came-up gasping for air as one of the older boys grabbed her Jack soon came stumbling out after. Both of them shivering from the ice cold water and air, were quickly wrapped in the spare blankets that they had managed to bring along with them. "Oh Anne, are you okay?", Elizabeth said with concern. She nodded, but her face and hands were blue.

Running back towards Jack, he seemed to be okay and the color was coming back. Both had coughed up water and were shivering. _They are not_ _going to be able to walk like this she thought. I'll have to send for Lee and Frank, and the other men._ Turning to look at the rest of her students, she looked into their eyes and knew what she had to do next.


	6. Chapter 6: With the Snow

One of Elizabeth's younger students, looked at her and said, "Are we going to make it home?" Elizabeth bent down and said with a smile, "We will." I cannot show fear. Feeling more determined, she turned to the rest of her students, "Okay class, it is clear that Constable Thornton and Anne will need some time to rest...at least for a few minutes. I am going to have to send two of you ahead of the group to go get help. The rest of us will keep walking as far as we can. I will also need some help carrying both Jack and Anne."

"Gabe and I will go Ms. Thatcher, we will bring back help as fast as we can." As Daniel said that, Elizabeth could not help but look worried. She knew they were very brave, but she too feared that they could easily lose their lives like their fathers so long ago. She also feared not having them to help carry Jack and Anne back to town, especially with the little ones struggling against the cold.

"Thank you, Daniel. Be careful, it is not too much further. Maybe a mile that way."

"We will. We won't be gone for long. I promise Ms. Thatcher."

After Daniel and Gabe took off, Elizabeth gathered the rest of the older children. She had the older girls partner up with a younger child or two and ask the rest of the older boys to help her carry Jack and Anne the rest of the way. The rope that they had was no longer strong enough to be used so they had to continue without. Just as Elizabeth and her students were getting to leave, one of the younger girls began to cry. Elizabeth looked ahead of her to see that it was Opal hugging her teddy bear. She walked over and knelt down, "It will be okay. I promise. Brownie knows how scared you are, but no matter what we will always be right here with you." Opal looked up and nodded her head.

"Okay everyone, let's start walking." Elizabeth put Anne's arm around her and supported her left side as Julia supported her right. The older boys that were left supported Jack, as everyone else marched on in front of them. Not only were Anne's clothes still wet due to the cold air, but her body was still shivering and her lips blue. Jack was not much better off, he too was sharing the same pain as Anne while trying to walk in three feet of snow.

As they walked, the wind slowly became stronger and the clouds overhead began to grow darker. Elizabeth knew that they were losing daylight and they often had to stop from time to time to allow for rest. When they stopped for the third time, Anne whispered, "Ms. Thacher...I'm so cold…"

"I know Anne, I know. We're almost there. And soon, the boys will be back with help." As she watched the older girls comfort the younger ones, Elizabeth walked over to Jack. "We are almost their Elizabeth, hopefully the boys made it back to warn everyone. We cannot go much further and it will be dark soon."

"I know, I am worried about Anne though. She is so cold."

With chattering teeth Jack responded, "She'll be fine, she has to be. As soon as the boys get here, we will be able to get her in-in-side."

"I hope so."

Elizabeth sat with Jack for a few minutes then she told her little troops to get ready to go. It was only another half mile. Just as they were about to move on, a howling wind came blistering by. Opal cried as her teddy bear got swept away. The older girls rushed towards the older ones, Elizabeth cried, "Stay together! Make sure you are with your partners." She could hear them crying and see that the dark clouds were quickly moving in. Elizabeth got a hold of Anne and started walking, only Jack and the older boys were behind her, while ahead were the younger ones. Somewhere in the distance she heard the sound of someone yelling her name.


End file.
